Rain deficit pares UP kharif area by million ha, 65% of state faces drought

50 of 75 districts reeling under deficient rainfall, with some receiving less than 20% of normal; paddy, pulses, coarse cereals to take a hit

With over 65% of Uttar Pradesh, among the country’s top agricultural producers, reeling under near drought situation owing to deficient rainfall, the state kharif sowing has already fallen by over a million hectares.

About 50 of total 75 districts have received less than normal rainfall in the current monsoon season with only a dozen districts reporting more than normal downpour. Last year, four dozen districts had reported higher than normal downpour, leading to robust acreage under kharif crops.

Districts like Ghaziabad, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Mainpuri, Mau, Kushinagar, Chandauli and Chitrakoot have received less than 20 per cent of normal rainfall. Besides, over two dozen districts have witnessed only up to 40 per cent of normal rains, thus badly affecting kharif sowing of major crops, including paddy, pulses, and coarse cereals.

According to agriculture department, the aggregate area under different kharif crops stands at about 5.85 million hectares (MH) compared to 6.89 MH last year, thus reporting a fall of 1.04 MH or more than 17%. In fact, acreage is down further if pegged to normal acreage figures.

The worst affected Allahabad, Bareilly, Azamgarh and Varanasi divisions have reported less than 50% sowing of kharif crops compared to last year. So far, only sugarcane has witnessed higher acreage by 2,88,000 hectares compared to last year, since the cash crop is normally sowed before the advent of the monsoon season.

Compared to normal acreage, total area under paddy, pulses, coarse cereals and oil seeds in UP has fallen by 0.83 MH to 2,07,000 hectares, 3,40,000 hectares and 45,000 hectares respectively. Farmers in areas affected by sub optimum rainfall have demanded the Yogi Adityanath government to supply adequate power so that they could irrigate their fields, especially paddy, which accounts for half of the total kharif acreage in UP.

Earlier, the state irrigation department had directed officials to prepare a contingency plan for dealing with possible drought situation if monsoon failed to revive soon. The department is working to de-silt the major and minor canals and reenergise government run tube wells for irrigation. The final report regarding rainfall or drought situation would be forwarded to the government next week.

The government had adopted a multipronged strategy to deal with rain deficit, including encouraging farmers to sow less water intensive crops such as millets, optimally harnessing canals and tube wells, sowing paddy only if monsoon activity picked up and motivating farmers to seek crop insurance.

UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi had directed officials to encourage farmers to sow millets and less water intensive crops such as jowar, bajra, urad, moong, kodo (a type of millet), and sawan (barnyard). The total sowing area in the state is estimated at 16.6 MH, including both rabi and kharif crops. The kharif are alone is estimated at 9.4 MH, including 6 MH of paddy.